Nurse Complaints Figures ‘Must Lead To Changes’

A clinical negligence expert at Irwin Mitchell has called on health authorities to work quickly to assess the rise seen in complaints against nurses and midwives.

New figures compiled by the Nursing and Midwifery Council revealed that the number of complaints lodged against staff rose 57 per cent in January and February from the same two-month period in 2010.

The organisation suggested that wider awareness of systems for the referral of complaints was likely to have been behind the change, but added that further assessment is needed to discover what the problems were related to.

Alison Eddy, a London-based Partner in Irwin Mitchell’s London office who specialises in clinical negligence claims, said it was vital that concrete reasons for the apparent surge are quickly identified.

She explained: “Such a rise in issues being raised suggests there are major issues which need to be considered in the treatment being received by some patients in hospitals and parts of the healthcare system across the UK.

“It is vital that any problems are investigated and considered as quickly as possible, as well as in a manner that will ensure proper standards are maintained and patient safety is not jeopardised.

“All patients deserve the best quality of care and research like this unfortunately raises concerns that, in some areas, this may not be the case.”